Guys-I would really appreciate some experienced advice and opinions. I have a large tract of land (700 acres), of which about 600 is in timber. I am cutting the timber and would like to clear as much of the cutover land as I can to make open pasture/farm land. I have no experience in large machines or clearing land. I do have a skid steer as well an an 11K pound excavator so have some experience in compact equipment. I plan to buy machines to clear the land and do a lot of it myself. I will also likely hire some folks to run the equipment while I am working my normal day job. I am not under any illusions about how quickly or easily this can be done. With that said, I do want to invest in equipment that can make the most of my time. I am definitely getting a larger excavator and had planned to get a dozer as well. Some folks had suggested a track loader instead or maybe even a large wheeled loader. I have read about the pros and cons and it sounds like track loaders are very versatile but if you have an excavator, a lot of that versatility is unnecessary. I would spend up to about 200K total on good quality used equipment. My questions I would love help with are: 1) What size excavator? I know bigger is better, but is there a point where there isn't much difference? I have looked at a Cat 320 on up to Cat 336. The larger the machine I get, the more "used" it will be. I am blessed to have the means to buy nice machines and have the work volume to support a nice larger machine but don't want to spend a lot more money for a larger machine if it isn't going to make the job much faster. 2) Dozer, track loader, or wheeled loader? Why? 3) I am guessing the answer to that question above will be a dozer since I have an excavator. If so, which one? I had looked at a Cat 6D. 4) Lastly, anyone have any experience with a Rotor S or similar machine? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVAJT2ThP-4 I know that one is on a tractor, but they make an attachment for large excavators as well. I know Cat is working on a similar attachment but it isn't ready for market just yet (the rep told me it keeps "ripping the arms off of the machines with the torque.") Thank you in advance for your assistance! I really appreciate folks who have experience and expertise taking their time to help someone like myself who is searching for advice!
Have you got any pic's of the vegetaion and terrain that you want cleared? Without them it's hard for anyone to give a honest opinion.
The clearing guys around here use a D8 with a KG blade to bust the stumps out and follow behind with a D6,D7 or D8 with a rake to clean up. If you are going to have to pay operators you should check with some large clearing companies that have experienced operators and equipment you may get it done cheaper than you think especially if you are not in a big hurry and they can work it into their schedule between other job's. You can tear up a lot of equipment clearing and stumping. I assume that you are going to burn debris there is an art to that process also.
Tones, makes a good point, how old was timber at harvest? In Ga. if the cut-over was plantation pine, you can save a ton of money by letting it sit a couple years ( longer better) stumps just rot away. Older naturally regenerated large hwd. and pine benefit some by this method but the regeneration starts right back and you have that to deal with. So thats when a large 30 ton excavator starts digging stumps. You can get by with as small as a CAT D5 to rake to a windrow to burn. A tracked machine works better on uneven ground than a rubber-tire rake. Sir you have alot of land to clear and you have a day job, folks like myself do this for a living and i am along way from getting rich at it, so hiring it done could be your least headache cause your not gonna save much money ( i've seen alot try this, then equipment and operator problems start, it begins to drag out and i get hired to clean up mess and finish. Put two different operations on it at opposite sides, you can tell in a week who stays and who goes!
Thanks for the responses. I do have a few pictures, but they are just now cutting the timber and haven't done the chipping of debris yet. I can tell you that the land is pretty flat and that the majority of the stumps are in the 12-18" range. There really aren't a ton of stumps bigger than that. The majority of them are pine, with a fair amount of mixed hardwood in certain portions. What is a KG blade? So the guys down in NC don't even use an excavator and just rip things out with a large dozer? If that works, that would be pretty easy since I could buy one really nice piece of equipment. I also appreciate the advice on options. I have checked and typically hear $1500-$2500 per acre to clear. In contrast, I know some farmers who have experience running this equipment who are willing to do so for $15-$20/hour. Furthermore, I have the ability to write the equipment off my taxes which cuts the price in half and also have some other jobs (building 5 or 6 ponds and other tasks). Lastly, I freely admit that I just want the equipment and want to do as much as I can myself. So, there is some desire to be somewhat economical and get it done in a somewhat reasonable time but there is also a good portion of "fun" for me included in the plan.
Thanks again for the response. There is a good mix of different tracks on this land. Some of the acreage is 20-30 year old pine but some is natural regeneration that is likely 50 years old. The whole tract is not consistent so I honestly have a little bit of everything. I do know and realize that a professional could do it much, much faster. I am not wanting to spend 2 million clearing the land ($2500/acre) so I figure I'll start doing it and what gets done gets done and what doesn't doesn't. I can replant some in pine and harvest again in 20 years and clear more later down the road. Basically I plan to somewhat do it professional except I will have much better equipment than the guys around here and I will be paying their employees looking for extra work. So, the same operators will be on the machine, I am just buying the machines (because I want them and I want to do some myself) and cutting out the company owner who would otherwise be making money without personally running the machines full time. I have taken this approach with my skid steer and mini excavator and I have already paid for the machines and saved money doing it--plus I have machines sitting in my yard to use and play with. It is going to be an evolving process, but I do know I want to buy the equipment and do as much work as I can myself for fun, not as much to save money.
I am also open to options on what to do with stumps. Obviously windrow burning is an option but I had also thought of a large mulching machine instead of fire in order to return nutrients to the soil.
That's my favorite tool as well for clearing & bustin trees & stumps . http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?263-Some-Holmes-750-action&p=2647&viewfull=1#post2647 http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?263-Some-Holmes-750-action&p=2537&viewfull=1#post2537 Rome Plow's page http://www.romeplow.com/Wholegood Spec Sheets/KG - Clearing Blade.pdf
I've done some research on KG blades. They look pretty cool but most things I see talk about shearing standing trees or using them to pile stumps. I haven't seen a whole lot about actually getting the stump out of the ground. Are they superior to other blades for removing stumps from the ground? Thanks again!
You split the stump in the middle with the stinger and it rolls that side out then back up and turn then push the other side out if it's to big just split it again
Just Like Clint said , bust the stumps in half's thirds or quarters depending on size . After they bust the games over and they peel out easy . What I like about the K/G blade is you can run it on top of the surface sheering or drop it below & plow it out . We push & shove to the pile with it and finish with it back blading . They back blade real nice , like having a 10,000 pound 12 foot wide concrete trowel on the dozer . They really work good on woods that has been timbered . This time of year grass & weeds grow 5 foot tall where ya caint see the stumps . Just drop the K/G & walk in easy , when ya hit a stump tractor will shift sideways instead of getting yer teeth rattled with a strait dirt blade Stinger also works good as a pitchfork to lift & carry tree tops off of stumps & get them out of the way . Heck they will even move dirt , can pioneer in a road with it , plow in a fire brake . Only thing it don't like is rock . Very versatile old school clearing tool if you know what to do with it . Only time I like an excavator over the K/G blade is in soft ground where it wont support a dozer grinding around .
I have watched the large paper companies in my area run over there land with a KG blade to prepare it for pine replanting, not to get it ready for farmland. I am sure it has to do with operator but he would dodge large stumps that caused him hassle and many stumps were just left with tops sheared off, which is fine for tree planting. Back to price-time, when a farmer finds a piece of land and wants to install irrigation and put into cultivation next planting season, the race is on for him even if he has some of the clearing equipment himself because most wait to after harvest and work during winter months. The price runs from $800-$2000 to get it ready for the cutting harrow,lots of roots.Which is a right-off also). But it sounds like you want to do it yourself and buying equipment gives you instant tax right-off and you do build equity also. A excavator is made to dig, which is same as getting up stumps, it is comfortable to run, much cheaper to operate than a large dozer and more versatile.( use smaller tractor to rake with)Burning your windrows still leaves the same amount of carbon as mulching and is so much cheaper. If you want to really move material out of way fast and deal with it later, put a large articulated dumptruck out their with you and dig stumps while he hauls into out-corners, then load him with excavator, then dig somemore. At end of day you can see your progress instantly.
SMLWinds, I'm going to throw a possum in here. All the talk of dozers and KC blades,burning timber heaps etc in this day and age is so much a bull shyte way of clearing land. All the evidence is there in the photos posted of the amount of unesseray ground disturbence just to get stumps out and thats only the start. Then you have to shove them across your land to a heap for burning, more ground disterbence. So you fire up the heap, it gets nice and hot, every things looking hunky dory but you are killing the soil under the fire and nothing grows there for years. Bugger. Now another way of cleaning up your land and having it look pristine is to use a combination of forestry mulching and stump grinding. First off run through with the mulcher and what I call rough cut the slash. Then grind the stumps below ground( 4" for grazing, 10" for cultivation) and leave the rest of the stump in the ground, its never going to harm anything there. At this stage its time to broadcast grass seed over the worked area and final cut. This runs the seed into the mulch and from there germinates. Because it's above the soil the seed gets the first water when it rains and gets a headstart on any weed that may poke through later. So their you have it, a real simple eazy way of clearing your land and getting pasture all in one operation and without any soil degredation. Also note worthy is, Cheap and Good DO NOT belong in the same sentince. Dozers and Excavators are cheap PS. A 140HP stumpgrinder can do 100 , 12"-18"stumps 4" below ground per hour in old plantation rows. What can a KC blade do in an hour except make a mess.
Sounds good for running down those smaller plantation pine rows, gonna be alittle change of pace in that 20-30 year old, and change some more in the 50 year old natural regen. Also keep in mind you need to build ponds later, a mulcher, stump grinder, or KG blade not much help there. If you dont want to burn in field walk excavator (it can also core your ponds, pile dirt, load trucks, dig ditches,fill holes,etc.) down rows, let a articulated dump truck stay backed up to you, should be able to do 4 rows at a time. A good operator doesn't have to churn up ground. Haul to edges or out spots, grind, mulch, burn later or let rot.
Yair . . . Tones. Interesting comments but I do think it's horses for courses. The forestry mulchers may have an application but I think it is a bit over the top to suggest it is a superior method than the traditional dozer in all cases . There is a high cost to begin with (I would be interested in your numbers) and with most of our Queensland species you can be absolutely certain the country is going to need a follow up spray . . . probably several sprays in fact. Forty inch rainfall country is going to need applications of lime and nitrogen to get the bugs working or nothing grows the mulch except for suckers. I would also question your comments about cooking the ground with fires. The standard pass with the three tine rippers or cutterbar down the windrows and they become the most productive part of the paddock. You can see the windrow and pile footprints in green with a quick fly over . . . in the heyday of the brigalow development the aim was to fly seed into the ashbed. Some of the hot fires of the Arcadia Valley did in fact do some damage but these were exceptional, probably the hottest scrub fires that ever burned. It recovered with a few workings and is now some of the finest grain country around. I saw about a thirty ton an excavator with a large mulching head working North of Bundy and with an eighteen foot cutter rake on a D6 I could have done in a day what he did in a week . . . the mulching looked good though. Incidentally have you ever seen (say) even an old D8h with a cutter bar popping out stumps? (big grin) Cheers.
I'm a huge fan of the trackloader with a ripper in this application. Invest in properly outfitting the machine and keep your excavator around the brush pile and a little extra support for ripping larger roots. They are significantly higher ground pressure and depending on the area, that could pose a problem. There are a lot of options out there, but a track loader offers speed and versatility in this application with a durability factor that cannot be ignored.
No worries Mate . That possum will come a runnin out of the bush when the K/G comes through . We disturb the hell out of the ground hoggin trees & stumps on clearing & dirt jobs . That's what customers pay me to do . Like my old Granny used to say , " ya gotta bust a few eggs to bake a cake " . You just hit the nail on the head Tones . The Dozer and excavator combination is the most versatile & cost effective solution for clearing & dirt work and that's what SMLWinds should be looking at . Both can be outfitted with special attachments for clearing . Or just run them as is ,it aint that complicated . Unstoppable combination Mate .
Mike-you understand where I am coming from here. There is a monstrous tax break for me, gives me fun, equipment I can use for other tasks, etc. Those are all reasons I am buying equipment and not simply hiring this out. Yes, there is no big rush for me. My income next year does not depend upon getting crops onto new ground ASAP. Tones-I appreciate your contrasting opinion and would love to hear more. I had researched the mulching options some. The problem was that they only get down to ground level. If you do that, what kind of stump grinder do you use to get the stumps 4" or 10" below grade for usable land? Can someone post a link to what you would use to get the stumps below grade? Has anyone seen or used the Rotor S I mentioned initially? Here is another video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV0TTEmoMuw They make an attachment for an excavator as well. That looks to be the ideal machine--grinds and mulches the stump while also getting it down as far as 2 feet below grade! It looks like an ideal option to me, but I hesitate to strongly consider one without an experienced opinion! For what it's worth, I don't want to waste any money but if there is a machine out there that would really make this job tremendously easier I CAN afford it--doesn't mean I want to waste money, but I am blessed to have the capabilities to buy expensive equipment if it makes sense. I had looked at the large Fecon forestry mulchers--they are great but I just didn't know if it would help me accomplish my goal since it only clears down to ground level and not below grade. Thanks for everyone's advice and input--I have already learned a lot!
My $.02, and it's worth less than that, get in a mobile tub grinder, big excavator with a coupler, narrow bucket/single tooth ripper, and a thumb. Yank the stumps out in one pass, let them dry a while, follow up with a dozer and root rake to clean and level the soil, then on the next pass with the tub grinder next to you, shake the stumps free of as much dirt as possible, throw them in. Haul mulch off or plow it in with some nitrogen rich organics, whichever seems most sensible. Fire is a waste of a good soil amendment. YMMV
I'd be looking at a 24-30 ton excavator with a stump harvester and a dozer with a rake and heavy offset disk. Stump harvesters are great for breaking down stumps, but have a couple downsides. They make having a thumb the rest of the time harder and need to be pin-on or wedge lock to keep the bucket breakout up.
World of difference between clearing and clearing and grubing. You can't beat a kg for clearing price wise. I would buy a drone and spray.
Has anyone watched on youtube the burn box's? The things can be leased and are made on skids, i have often wondered while i am stumping/clearing with excavator that if i had a burn box i could drag it along behind me and toss the stumps and such into it. The dirt and ashes fall though the grate in the bottom and it would be a one man show. Back to the muchers, i was digging large stumps on a job that had a 15 acre spot of smaller underbrush, so the landowner hired a tracked mulcher to run over that area. Well it looked great at what he did and he covered a fair amount off ground, pretty fast, but after a rain i spent most my time pulling him out the bog and the $ 300 hour rate he charged was too much and he was asked to leave. I had to go over his entire area and hunt every snag, root ,and stump he grazed over. I felt sorry for the guy who had to subsoil that section cause i know i didnt find it all. When said and done a heavy duty bush hog would have done same job he did , much cheaper. I do think it would work ok for pasture land if you keep it sprayed and let time be on your side.
SML Winds- The 140 hp machine i own is only small as I only clear small tracks of land however the principle is the same. You can find what I do on Facebook, CTC Mulching . I don't run the mulch into the ground but leave it covering the soil for the reason that a lot of my work is in hill country so there is Zero erosion. Now for 250 acres a wheel tractor around 300-400 HP with ether hydrostat or deep reduction drive would be the go. As for attachments there are quite a few ways of going. 1 A AHWI mulcher and stumpgrinder each being an attachment, all cat 3 linkage. 2 FAE stonecrusher is more than capable of chewing up trees and stumps and leaving the ground ready for seed. Seppi also has similar equipment 3, The Tre-eta is the ultimate for clearing what you have. It's the only truly front mounted mulcher ever made and can clear up to 1 acre per hour and a finished job at that. Going down the wheel tractor path May be better in that you can sell the whatever attachment you decide to buy for the cleanup and still have a tractor for future farm operations. IMO the stumper shown in your first post leaves the waste to chunky for my liking and whats the point of going that deep anyway. Have you ever pulled a wooden fence post thats been in the ground for 50 years or more. The only rot is about 6" above ground and the same below. Rot is caused by a mixture of air and moisture, so stumps ground below a level where air can't get to will not decompose and I can't see the sense in total stump removal if it's not going to interfere with future land use. All that's happening is that you are spending a **** load of bucks for no real result.
Over here the possums come out minced but don't tell the fur huggers
Hey Scrub, have you ever seen what a dedicated mulcher can do in a day with a good operator in the seat.. My little 140HP machine has more hydraulic power than most excavators and maybe the bloke you saw was on hourly rate. Most native species won't regen if the stump can't get light to it. So it the jobs done right there's no need for spraying anymore than there is with dozers. Most land is going to need fertilizer after clearing no matter what method is used.
Tones-thanks so much for the helpful response! You have my attention with the mulcher! So, a mulcher can clear well enough that you are ready to use the land immediately? Is that for pasture land, crop land, or both? Rocks are not an issue for me at all so I can get down in the dirt some. Erosion is not an issue either. At one acre per hour, I don't think the machine could cost enough to make it not worth buying! (I could be wrong if it is 7 digits!) When you say a "wheeled tractor" what are you referring to? Are you talking about large size typical farm tractor? That would be useful for me if so! How much do the tre-eta heads cost? I want to get a machine that allows me to move efficiently but don't need the biggest if the costs gets ridiculous. As someone told me one time, they had a skid steer mulcher that everyone said was good for clearing 1-2 acres. He said I clear 1 acre 100x's and I have cleared 100 acres.
Yair . . . . Gotcha Tones . As I said they certainly have their applications and as you say in most cases there is no need for stump removal. Just had a powerline cleared down the front of my place and we couldn't push the larger trees because the phone and fibre cables had been ripped in and no one knew where they were. It's no fun cutting off three foot Iron Barks at ground level but acceptable to Ergon. Specs are changing and power lines no longer have to be grubbed. I see more and more Government work is being mulched with a large John Deere and rear linkage mulcher being used instead of heaping and burning on recent Highway upgrades. Where the mulchers shine of course is in selective clearing and for that there is no doubt it is the way of the future and I believe you are probably getting in on the ground floor and wish you all the best. I seem to remember you had a thread going on this style of clearing some time back. Cheers.
Yep Scrub, QLD has a zero burn policy addministerd by DERM. I was talking to a bloke who has 14000 arces of Pines (Ceader) out Thargaminda way. It was chained and windrowed quite a few years ago but never burnt.He is no longer allowed to even burn the rows. Thanks for the compelment on ground floor but Iv'e at this game for 10yrs and getting near time to park up. As you may know its a bugger having a 35yr head on a nearly 70yr old body.
Yair . . . Tones . I was not aware of any zero burn policy. It certainly is possible to get permits here on the coast . . . folks have to realise if it isn't burnt under controlled conditions it will burn, perhaps catastrophically, somewhere down the track. As I think I mentioned on that other thread, the blanket of chips from roadside mulching burnt for days after bush fires. I didn't realise you were getting on a bit, you come over as a young bloke. (big grin) Cheers.
Where do I find a website for this tre-eta mulching machine? I found a video that looked neat because it said it went 300mm below the surface but that is all I have found. Also, Tones--when you say wheeled tractor are you talking about a large farm tractor? Anyone have any experience with Fecon? Someone I know recommended a Fecon mulching machine. Thanks again for the help!
You can look at FAE soil stabilizer but you will need a large a tractor like an 8370R john deere with IVT transmission to pull it will grind about 8 inches below ground.
We have about the same lay on the ground in south Indiana . Allot of trees & forest with scattered farm fields & pasture in between due to the terrain . My advice would be keep about a third or half of the property in trees . Just from the pictures of Tappahannock VA it looks to be mostly wooded . It's that way for a reason Bro . We have similar ground on our farm and it's simply best left in forest many times due to the lay of the land . Gentle sloping land can be made in to pasture & possibly farm ground . I would scale back the project a bit and look in to selective cutting the timber land and possibly clearing some of it for pasture & farm ground . I tell ya what , Tappahannock looks a lot like home . I Like it ! HeavyEquipmentForums
TD25C-Thanks for the comments! I don't think your approach is unreasonable. While you are right that most land that is not cleared is not cleared for a reason, that isn't always true in our remote area and doesn't hold with my land fully. The vast majority of my property (which you just barely missed with your aerial photos) is pancake flat. There are a few hills and streams but I strongly suspect this land used to be farm land and for whatever reason was planted in trees about 50 years ago. With the river there are a lot of streams and creeks but it also creates river flats and the land is pretty flat in the nearby areas. If I do elect to clear about half of the land, I still have to decide how to go about it. This forum responses have been very very informative (thanks!) but also muddied the waters a bit as there seem to be a lot of differing opinions from folks with more experience than myself. Any further thoughts and comments are very much welcomed!
Befor you purchase any machine look at your other jobs you need to do also. If i owned every machine that worked best in each differnt area and job i did, jenkins county wouldn't hold it all. You said you have a budget and want a couple machines to have around and that you are going to get farmers and yourself to run. Purchase something they can run easily and is not dedicated to just grinding a stump ( which by the way i say is great running down pine plantation rows) but when you get to the large stumps and there are always large stumps, it is gonna take alot of grinding. Now you have to park it when land is ready to plant and go get something else to do any other jobs on your list. Just dont spend all your funds on a dedicated machine. A mulcher, grinder, KG blade all have there place but an excavator will do all the jobs and is cheap/easy to operate. We can still burn here and it still leaves the carbon as ash, which is easier to mix back into soil than mulch. We will all have to deal with what Tones has to deal with one day (no burning) and mulching/grinding but for now the GA. forestry will put firebreaks around piles or the whole block and burn it for you. There is no right way or wrong way but have versatile equipment.
whitemike,the cost of digging big stumps out with an excavator don't stop with the stump out of the ground. The hole has to be filled , the stump has to be moved to a burn heap etc etc. Tomorrow I have to grind some large hard wood stumps and Ill bet you a dollar to a nob of goat **** and you can hold the steaks in yer mouth, Ill have the job done away faster than a 30 ton excavator and there will be nothing more to do, no holes to fill, no trucks to cart anything away, no dump fees. These stumps are around 1.5m highX 1m across and about 20mins for each stump with a 140 hp machine.
All great points and good advice. There is certainly a happy medium. I don't want a machine that will take 2-3x as long to do the job but at the same time, versatility will be very helpful. So, if there is a close second, maybe you don't get THE best machine for a specific job but you want it to be comparable in the work it will do. I get that and do have value in versatility. With that said, I have some growing interest in the mulching option. I didn't know there were mulching machines that would go below grade. If I can get a mulching machine that will take care of everything 8-12" below grade that is pretty enticing! Tones-I checked out your Facebook page. What is the big yellow forestry machine on your page? Is that the 140hp machine you reference? Does it mulch below grade? I looked at the Fecon website and found a "soil hog" attachment that can be put on a forestry machine or standard tractor. I assume something like this is what was suggested earlier. It looks like you would have to drive painfully slow, but I am not so sure it wouldn't overall be fastest (slow and steady!)
One more question that will sound really basic. If you go the excavator and dozer route, you have to dig sizable stumps with the excavator. I assume that the very small tiny stumps in the 1-3 inch range you just plow through with the dozer, right? How big does a stump have to be before you have to address is with an excavator instead of just plowing through it with a D6 dozer?
Yair . . . SMLWinds . I really believe you are over thinking this. It appears you are in the fortunate position of being able to purchase an excavator and a dozer . . . these are two common useful machines capable of a multitude of jobs. In my opinion purchasing a forestry mulcher for one small clearing job seems a bit extreme. I have cleared hundreds of thousands of acres from large tracts of farming country to the selective clearing of house blocks. If I were in your position I would handle it like this . . . . Buy a 150--200 hp dozer with a conventional manual angle blade with a tree pusher a tilt ram. three tyne rippers and a walk in stick rake. Alone this machine will do most of what you need to on the clearing side as well as building roads, ponds and other earthworks . . . it would struggle with very large stumps and for these you could buy say a twenty ton excavator. I would start on the lighter stuff walking it down with rake and stacking at ninety degrees to the walk down direction. We haven't seen any pictures of your vegetation but there most likely not be too many trees you can't tip out after a rip around with the dozer . . . drop the centre tyne for clearing and ripping around trees. Don't even mess with big stumps they are left for the excavator . . . oh to be in your position. (Big Grin) I don't know about the "burnability" of your species but a ploy that works well over here on very large stumps is, rather than dig them out and having to wrestle with a five ton root ball I have just had the excavator dig around them, washed the dirt off with a firefighter (I use a thousand litre pod on the pickup) stack timber around them and burn them all in place. Finally I should mention on the dozer you should spend some money on a proper protection canopy and screens . . . not so important on the excavator as hopefully it will be mostly digging stumps. This is a decently fitted out farm machine . . . . Cheers
I'll fuel up the plane & make another pass tomorrow . That's cool your ground lays good . More than likely was clear at one time , may have a 50 to 60 year growth on it ? We run in to small patches like that from time to time . Big part of my work is still agricultural related in some form or another . Have one retired farmer that we work for every year doing something on his place . Might be hacking back some trees around the edge of the fields or working on waterways & tile drainage . He's 93 years old & still sharp as a tack . A dinner time one afternoon I asked him when was all the farm ground in our area cleared ? He paused for a bit and said it was done in small stages at first ( early to mid 1800's ) Buy 1900 the vast majority was done ( before yellow iron ) . Between 1940 to 1970 the diesel powered yellow iron was just mopping up what had begun over a century before . Kind of mind boggling how it all came about and what was accomplished in the past . Took generations to do it all and keep it in shape in the present .
Nice looking tractor Scrub Puller ! Yeah Scrub , have you noticed lately the more high teck a society becomes the harder is to accomplish a simple task ? ( Big Grin ).
SMLwinds, yep thats the machine I use, it's a Rayco C140 with a Fecon mulcher and a Rayco stumpgrinder. The mulcher can cut stumps to ground level but not below. I suggest you check out the AHWI range of PTO mulchers( not to confused with Fecon). IMO they have the ability to to work through the lift range which most others can't. Made for farm tractors from 80- 400+ HP. PS. Pines don't reshoot so if they are cut to ground level and don't interfere with future operatoins just leave them there = less cost, less land damage.
Yair . . . I hear you td25c it is remarkable how machinery, attitudes and methods change but the dirt and trees remain the same. I just love it though when there is a confluence of methods. A local contractor cleared just over a quarter mile of power line across the front of our place with (guessing) a thirty ton Hitachi and maybe a twelve or thirteen ton Kobelco excavator. The Kobelco was brand new with quick hitch and twist and wrist and bucket, and he took a grab and ripper tooth every where he moved . . . all this marvellous technology and they smoothed the whole five hundred by forty yard clearing with a twelve foot long by one foot iron bark log selected from a pile . . . just picked it up with the grab, trimmed the ends off with a chainsaw and started grading. With the twist and wrist he followed all the contours and covered all the big stumps that were cut of near ground level. I loved it. (big grin) Cheers.
Tones, you misunderstand where i am coming from. I not talking about a stump removing race or how pretty the grinding leaves job. The gentleman asked about what to buy to have on hand to clear land and build some ponds and i am sure road work/ditching. I gave him an answer that was practical in a general sense, not a dedicated machine to just grinding stumps. I not gonna even gonna take you up on your big stump race but when you do get done and sit there to watch me finish with mine you can also sit there when i dig that ditch that needs digging and that pond that needs building. That is why i gave SMLWinds the replys i did, i hope it helps him and gives him something to think on. One thing we have in my area are old headrows. The trees are cut off above the old web wire, i am curious to what a grinder does in this case.Also those big trees with wire in them has a root system that can spread many feet in each dirrection, if they are not removed when the farmer comes along with the sub-soiler bedder he is gonna brake shear bolts if anything left underground less than 16-18"s. I own a dozer, a excavator mounted Seppi rotary mulcher and an excavator. Out of the three the excavator stays the busiest cause it is just more versitile. Now when a job calls for the dozer or mulcher they do their jobs great. You are in the stump grinding biz and i can tell you promote it, cause if all i had to do was grind stumps i would also. just like the KG guys swear by their way, i can just picture one going down a row of stumps, i bet it folds them over in no time. But if had to give advice to Winds on what one machine i would choose the leatherman knife of the woods, an excavator. Not a dedicated single blade that i have to foldup/ park and go get something else for my other jobs. I just trying to give sound advice not promote anything.
Aint that the truth Mate !:thumbsup Like you say it's horses for courses
That sounds like a good combination Mike .:thumbsup I'll preach on about an excavator paired up with a dozer or " high lift" / track loader . They are the most versatile team players I've ever used . Aint nothin gonna stop them . Tackle any type of job with no complaints . They complement each other depending on the present situation . About those knuckle heads still using Rome K/G blades keep in mind it's just an attachment to gain advantage . When we get done cuttin & hacking the K/G gets swapped out for a dirt blade on site just like changing an excavator bucket . http://www.heavytruckforums.com/showthread.php?263-Some-Holmes-750-action&p=2647&viewfull=1#post2647
There is a fellow on another forum with a Rome K/G blade on his old D7. He set a camera on a tripod and proceded to rip apart a six ft oak stump about 18" high. He split it into a dozen pieces pulling the root sections up, piled it up, and left no hole to fill. It took under 4 minutes. It was a enjoyable feat to watch him working with the old girl. Should be able to find it on U-tube.
Guys-I have continued to research and investigate things. I value everyone's opinion and advice so far! It sounds like the tried and true method is an excavator and dozer. I also realize that those are versatile machines that will be nice to have around when the clearing is done. With that said, before I go that route, I want to do a little more investigation on mulching. A few area farmers I spoke to this past week were real advocates of the mulching route. They said if you get a mulcher (or "tiller") that goes into the soil that you can quickly prepare the land for crop production. I am told that some mulching heads (I hear them called soil tillers sometimes) can get as much as 20" below grade. What thoughts to folks have on soil mulching/tillers? What brands are out there with a mulching head that will go below grade more than a few inches? While I do see the value in the excavator dozer combo, I could very easily buy the mulching head/machine if it is better and resell it or just wait a year or two and buy an excavator and dozer. So, I may be able to have them all within a few years but right now want what is best for clearing the land to start with. Thanks again for the help!
This is probably what the farmers are talking about. They leave a nice finished product going forward, but makes piles backing into the stumps. http://www.fae-group.com/en/product...lcher-and-forestry-tillers/tillers/ssm-ssm-hp Here's a video of one hitting 22" pine stumps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJnTb7v9pw8
I am going through the same thing as you but only on a much smaller scale (about 20 acres)...dealing with an old xmas tree farm with 18-24" stumps that are now 2 years in the ground since cutting....At first I was close to having the logging company that cut the tress come in with their forestry mulcher and prepare the land but I just couldn't get myself to hire something done that I could do myself (I'm weird like that) So I purchased an older Link belt excavator- 14 ton (which I've learned is too small to be fast at this type of work)..first field I used the dirt bucket and made a real mess of things just because of the amount of dirt/hole that was left from each stump ,even though I tried filling back in what I could...second field, I found some blades (from an old ditch witch cable plow) and welded them together and used the ears from one of the extra buckets that came with the machine to make a ripper...so basically it looked like a 2 pronged fork...that worked WAY better...1 swipe on each side of the stump to loosen the roots and then came in from behind and plucked it out...once I got proficient , I was removing about 35-40 stumps an hour...all I did after that was run over it with a disk several times and then seeded it this spring...I now have a beautiful field of timothy and rye and hope to have some animals in it next spring...knowing what I went through , I would suggest a forestry mulcher just based on the amount of acres you have ( and I would do the same if faced with this sort of project again)...I thought I'd be done in no time and I still have about 8 acres left . I don't regret buying the machine though because I needed to do some ditching and other things with it and it looks like (knock on wood), I 'll have something left of it to sell when I'm done.